Rwanda National Police (RNP) has advised the public against keeping large sums of money in their homes, stating that the more money you keep at home, the higher you become a soft target to robbery.

The call comes in a wake of recent incident in Kigali where a househelp broke into his employer’s bedroom and stole Rwf1.4million and US$100 before fleeing.

Police spokesperson for the City of Kigali, Supt. Emmanuel Hitayezu, said that the, suspect Pierre Ngirababyeyi had made a copy of the key to his employer's bedroom, identified as Eddy Fernand Habimana.

“On realizing that the money was stolen, the victim, Eddy Fernand Habimana reported to Police. Immediate investigations led to the suspect in Musambira of Kamonyi District where he was hiding, and brought him back to Kigali where he committed the offence, and currently held at Kacyiru Police Station,” said SP Hitayezu.

“Of the stolen amount, the suspect had only spent Rwf84, 000, but the rest of the stolen money was recovered from him at the time of arrest, and two smartphones - Samsung S7.”

“We highly recommend that people resort to smart transaction and not keep or walk with such amounts as it makes them soft target for robbers… By keeping or moving with bulk of money, you are also exposing yourself but also fueling criminality. Remember, security guards may only be mandated to provide external protection not protection inside your house,” said the spokesperson.

The money and the phones were handed back to the owner, Habimana.

Habimana hailed Rwanda National Police for the quick intervention and recovering his stolen monies and items.

“I am very thankful to RNP for the professionalism they exhibited. As soon as I informed them about the theft, they immediately started investigations that led to the recovery of my money and my phones and arrested the prime suspect,” he said.

This is not the first time police is making a similar call against stashing large sums of money in the house.

On December 30, Police returned€10,780 and Rfw100, 000 to Jean Luc Miravumba. The money had been stolen from his bedroom by one Emmanuel Tuyishime who was his househelp.

The money was stolen on December 26, and all of it was recovered the following day in the vicinity of Miravumba's residence, where Tuyishime had hidden it, after the former filed a theft case that led to immediate investigations into the matter.

A month before that, two house-helps in Kicukiro, stole $11, 400 and Rwf560, 000 after breaking into their employer’s bedroom.

All the money was also recovered.

“This is proof that your money is not safe in your house. As the law enforcers, we would prefer to advise you on how best to avoid incidents like that than going after criminals,” said the spokesperson.

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